Corporate
Agonies….CURED !

Most management top guns
appreciate the work that their Learning & Development (L&D) teams do to
improve the productivity of their employees & yes there are plenty of
‘ayes’ to applaud for. Some extensive research in the field of Corporate
Engagement has uncovered certain areas that remain hidden from the
active consciousness of most Human Resource Managers. Though, these remain as ‘living
hells’ for scores of employees but they are not overtly discussed in the
public domain. These private problem areas could be as pervasive as boss
management issues, peer2 peer jalousies or ‘discomforts’ due to skill gaps and maybe
as complex as project management or task related excellence etc.The time has come when these corporate agonies
are brought out of the closets and are discussed with experts, such that
employees are able to cope and eliminate these private sufferings- thereby
leading to higher productivity and impeccable quality delivery.

Let’s
examine some real life cases to know more about “Private Corporate Agonies”.

Rakesh
was a Sales Executive in an FMCG firm. He was a star salesman and his
consistent performance record prompted the company management to promote him to
the next level of Assistant Manager. He was very happy when he got his
promotion letter and accompanying salary hike. Two months on, Rakesh is a
devastated soul. He is now a nervous wreck. What went wrong? He had no man
management experience prior to his promotion. Administrative work of his new role
was Greek to him. Mail communication was not his forte. Representation to the
Zonal management was his boss’ job…. etc. etc. He feared that his limitations
would be exposed soon and he would lose his job. To compound matters, there was
a past-master sales executive in his team who wasted no opportunity to
humiliate him in front of large distributors and seniors, during market visits.
Rakesh tried his best to adapt; he started shouting on his subordinates just
like his boss used to shout at him on real and imaginary issues. His aggressive
behavior prompted two of his reportees to quit within a month of his elevation.
Every day he was slipping into an abyss. He had quite a handful to do- starting
with hiring for the vacancies created, pending targets of the two exited guys,
getting work done from the balance employees in his team, managing his boss and
learning the basics of the job-role he had recently landed. He had contemplated
taking advice from HR and had summoned up the courage to meet the human
resource folks, but he was put off by the jargonized response that he
received-“If you can’t manage your position then you are a misfit in that role,
try and figure out quickly else don’t cry victim later.” One empathetic entity
in HR offered him a training stint on man management but did not give any
tactical input to keep him going. His counterpart, the other Area Manager, was
enjoying the discomfiture that Rakesh was facing. He was lobbying that Rakesh’s
territory be merged with his zone, such that he would be bigger and better-off.

So,
what does Rakesh do? Quit? “Don’t worry Rakesh there is help at
hand!”

Mohit
is a seasoned Finance guy, good in budgeting and forecasting. He has an eye for
detail and can sift through a maze of numbers to derive the true picture from a
financial report. The only thing that worries him is public speaking. He had an
extrovert speaker in his team and Mohit uses him at most opportunities to
explain his reports to the management. One day when that guy was absent,
Mohit’s boss called him to explain the quarterly review report to the MD. Mohit
tried to avoid the meeting by feigning sickness, he even tried saying that his
wife was unwell and he had to leave early. But the meeting happened and Mohit’s
worst fears came true.

Most
probably, Mohit won’t get that promotion that year. “Don’t worry Mohit there is
help at hand!”

Similar
issues and scenarios are omnipresent.

Some
person may be good at most things as demanded by his job role but he/she cannot
crunch data, which may be 5% of the role requirement but it can jeopardize his
career at crucial times. Someone may be a great orator but is incapable of
making a jazzy power point presentation.

These
and other private corporate issues are a reality. You can be a victim of
“Peer-Compare” or “Cross Functional Disabilities”. Boss management is a pet
peeve everywhere. It is a top trending issue on social media as well. At a
broader level these private work issues can be clustered around the following
types:

Role Fitment
Related

Boss Management

Task Related

Inter Personal
Relationships

Skill Gaps

So,
what do you do? “Don’t worry there is help at hand!”

An
Agony Aunt type of Service has been conceived and envisaged by a newbie
Training Organization- Excellential Consulting Services Private Limited. Just
as you have agony aunts in newspapers and magazines, listening in to your
distressed personal (non-work) queries and advising solutions, here corporate
Agony Specialists listen to your corporate yet personal problems and suggest
workable solutions. The Specialists are drawn from varied fields and a special panel
is set-up for each Individual or Corporate. Typically a panel would comprise of
a Psychologist or Behavioural Scientist, a functional Expert, an Industry
veteran or Domain specialist and a Life coach doubling up as a facilitator.

Introducing-
“Corporate Agony Buster” program for ridding the workplace from the menace of Corporate
Agonies. For the few fortunate ones who have had the luck of having mentors in
their work environment or benevolent buddies to bail them out of sticky situations
would surely vouch for the immeasurable help that personalized or specialized advice
entails. For the millions of others who have had no such help there is a
readymade solution available. Go for “Corporate Agony Buster” solution. You don’t
have to re-invent the wheel; you have experts who have already ‘been-there-done-that’.

The
program works at four levels:

On-site Workshop
for a group of Employees.

An ‘Agony’ Column
in the organization Newsletter (Where employee identities are suppressed for
confidentiality)

Training Need Identification
(TNI vide the first two channels.)

Improvement
metrics and Analytics (Tracking through an online platform)

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